


A Castle to Myself

by GlitternGlow



Series: Harry Potter Christmas Works [16]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Arguing, Fluff, Language - Swearing, M/M, Otherwise super fluffy, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:29:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitternGlow/pseuds/GlitternGlow
Summary: Day 22 and 23 of 25 Days of Draco and Harry. ooooh its getting so close to the big finale now. XD





	1. Maybe not so Alone

Todays Prompt: Hogwarts covered in snow 

 

The Castle was going to be lonely this Christmas. Most people wanted to go home, be with their families. Harry completely understood, and when Dumbledore had told him that really, he couldn’t just stay in the school by himself he had argued that he wouldn’t be by himself because the elves would be there, and apart from Christmas Day, McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey as well.

And he was never going back to the Dursley’s again, and he didn’t want to go to Grimmauld place until he had time to renovate it.

Ron and Hermione had offered to take him with them, to smuggle him on holiday with the Weasleys and Hermione’s parents but they were taking a muggle plane and Harry knew it wouldn’t work so he thanked them and told them to have a good holiday and Owl if they wanted anything.

He didn’t expect they would with everything the holiday had planned, they had been talking about it for weeks before the break.

Harry sat, dangling his feet out of the Owlery windows and wondering what it would be like to really fly like the Owls that flew past now and then, hunting probably. He watched as the sun rose, brilliant pink light suffused to grey and orange before turning blue and Harry thought he better get up.

His legs wobbled, and he gripped the wall for support before he did actually find out what it was like to fly like a bird, and hit the ground like a rock. He trudged down to the Great Hall, the elves had set out a place for him, and another opposite. So McGonagall was going to sit down here. Harry didn’t mind that, she wasn’t a talkative woman.

“Eggs, toast….and a muffin, strawberry if you have it please,” he said to his plate and the food appeared a few moments later. The door opened as Harry started to eat but he didn’t pay it much attention until he heard a polite, but fully stuck up voice say

“Eggs Royale.”

He looked up, mouth full of the muffin he had chosen to eat first to see Malfoy. The git was perfectly quaffed as usual, not a hair out of place. Harry wanted to snap something, but it was almost Christmas and if Draco was here, it meant something was going on.

“Malfoy,” he said in greeting instead as another plate appeared at the side of him. he looked at it. “You know who else is staying?”

Malfoy looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. “No.”

It turned out that this plate was for McGonagall, and she had a ton of ground rules for them for the days she was out at her sisters, including when she would be back, and a pointed look at Harry about if he had to raise the wards.

Dumbledore had already told him how to raise Hogwarts’ defences, as well as how to ward any single room against everything, even a death eater, in case they got into the school. He nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. Most of Voldemort’s followers were in custody now, and those that were on the run would not be likely to come to Hogwarts anyway. She nodded curtly at them both before she ordered her breakfast but Harry didn’t wait around to see what it was, finished with his own and wanting to go flying.

\--

The air was brisk and absolutely freezing outside, but his Quidditch gear was pretty warm, plus the hat, scarf and warming charm made it quite pleasant to be flying over the grounds. He wished they got to do things like this more often. Soar high over the Astronomy tower, low over the lake and all through the first set of mountains that marked the boundary of Hogwarts from the rest of the world.

It was breath-taking, the castle topped in white like an intricate cake, the detail exquisite and the centre piece of the banquet. He floated in the air above the forest, just taking it all in. This place was home for him, it held some special part of his heart and he would be sad to leave it when all was said and done. Maybe he could become a Professor and stay, like Snape had, instead of leaving for the holidays.

Thoughts of Snape both angered and saddened him as he wondered what the man was doing, whether he was at home…or if he was at the Manor, but that wouldn’t explain why Draco was here.

He landed in the outer courtyard, he could look out over the mountains from here, and the walkways were covered so if he chose the right one, he could sit in one of the windows for a few hours without being disturbed or too cold.

The war had been hard on everyone. Snape had barely survived his last encounter with Voldemort and Harry had pulled him from the gates. Harry had been told off and docked 50 points for being out alone at night but he hadn’t cared, he had saved Snape. The man had been ever so slightly less acerbic lately. Harry smiled to himself then, Hermione had noticed but not Ron, he was still on his Snape was responsible for all the ills in Hogwarts campaign.

Draco was another thing to think about. After following him around most of the last year he was at Hogwarts and not finding anything noteworthy, he was starting to think that maybe Draco had been as scared as he had. That he was just a kid who didn’t know what to do when his parents were on the wrong side, heck his whole house was riddled with Death Eater children. What had Harry expected really?

A sharp bark of laughter left Harry’s lips before he could stop it. Who was he kidding, none of them were kids anymore, especially not ones like him and Draco. Ones who had been in the thick and not on the edges, ones where every decision had been life and death.

Harry let his head thunk back into the cold stone and closed his eyes. He had to think of something else, otherwise he was likely to end it all here. Just fall out of the window and make a pretty stain on the rocks below. He thought about it every time he went to the Owlery, the Astronomy Tower, even when he flew.

But he would never do it.

Not because he was noble, not because he was scared, but because he had a duty. A duty that was put upon a one-year-old in a crib on a stormy night in October. He had had to save them, was prophesised to save them even. And he would never have let people die because he couldn’t deal with what he had to do. Now that duty was gone…but he couldn’t let Molly lose a child, he had seen how she was when they thought the Twins wouldn’t make it. He would never make her sound like that again. 

He shook his head and opened his eyes, and then very nearly fell out of the window.

A slim hand darted forward and caught in his Quidditch jersey before pulling him back into his seated position.

“What the fuck!?” he yelled before he looked at Malfoy. Really looked. The boy was a wreck, dark circles just like the ones he hid under a glamour, a weary look to him just like Harry himself felt all the damn time. He deflated. “Doesn’t matter, thanks for not making me fall to my gory death.”

A tiny twitch at the corner of Malfoy’s mouth might have been him fighting a smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it Potter.”

“Why are you here?”

“I am allowed to take a walk where I want, you don’t own the universe, as much as you might act like it.”

Harry huffed, he didn’t want to get into a fight. There was no way he was giving anyone an excuse to send him back to the Dursley’s for Christmas, or worse if there was such a thing. He stood, shouldered past Malfoy and went to walk back to the castle.

“Wait,” Malfoy’s voice was small. “The Manor, it’s…and its always so cold there now. No matter the blankets or the spells. Mother is sick and father is stuck without options and….well, Sev is there to help but I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to be in that place anymore!”

Harry was speechless. He had never heard Malfoy talk like this, but it tugged at his heartstrings so badly he took a step back toward the blonde. He looked more dishevelled now, as if he had been twisting up his robes before he had arrived here.

“Malfoy, are you alright?” he asked, concern creeping into his voice even though part of him still hated the boy. Voldemort’s defeat had changed him, a lot, and brought him humility in ways, but not in others. Harry didn’t want to be friends, he wanted to be by himself.

Malfoy shook his head. “No, but there is no help is there? I wear a mark that I ‘chose’ for myself.” He spat the word and Harry knew he had no choice in the Mark.

He stepped forward again and gently took Draco’s arm, pushing up the sleeve. He felt the blonde tense under his fingers but not pull away. “I know you didn’t want this, I saw it,” he almost whispered. “I felt your pain when you were branded, your fear…..and I saw the horror on your father’s face as he watched. He regretted ever bringing you into his world but there was no choice for him. He needed to keep you alive.”

Harry paused and looked into sad, grey eyes. “I do not like him, but he did love you Malfoy….Draco.” he added, it felt wrong to use his last name in this situation. A single tear escaped those stormy eyes as he tried to pull his hand back. “Wait,” he added as he listened.

This was something that had happened since the end of the war, it was as if the Horcrux had been blocking his power, and over the months it had returned, and with it knowledge he knew was not his own, but had been Voldemort’s. It came in handy sometimes though, like right now.

“I think I can help you.”

He slid his hand back up Draco’s arm, until the flat of his hand was over the Mark and then he let his body take over, magic pouring down his arm and into his fingers. “Delens tenebris,” he went to say but it came out as a sibilant hissing. He had still not lost the ability to speak Parseltongue.

Draco gasped, and then grit his teeth and tried to pull away. “Hurts,” he forced out between his teeth as he looked at Harry. Harry nodded back as he felt the last of the power come down to is fingertips and into Draco’s forearm. Harry let out a little surprised sound.

“I thought it would have put up a fight,” he said as he let go. Draco clutched his arm to himself quickly while staring at Harry.

“What? Is it not enough that you won the war!? Is it not enough that we nearly died in the room? That I lost a best friend there and that my house was taken over by the monster. I lost everything that day, and I am glad but I hate it! I hate that you won because this life is not a life I wanted, but the alternative would have been so much worse-“

“Draco, I didn’t-“ Harry didn’t get to finish as Draco carried on.

“And you! Mr Perfect Saviour of the world, what do you do? You just mope around the castle as if you lost the war, you git. You should be happy like the rest of them, not wasting away, nor using glamours to hide your stupid face. You could have anything you ever wanted and you squander-“

“Anything?” Harry yelled over him. “Anything Malfoy!? You have your parents! A thing I will never have, your Aunt killed my Godfather! The only chance I had at having a family of my own. Remus is dead because of his Death Eaters! I lost friends, I lost everyone important to me, over and over and over again! Don’t tell me I have everything because if it wasn’t for the fact that I would make Molly cry I would jump out of that window right now!” he stopped yelling, his chest heaving and not caring that Malfoy was looking at him in utter shock. “I don’t have everything, I have less than nothing, I fucking died for you, for all of you to live and you still try to treat me like a thing. I have nightmares every single night, all because of one madman and I still can’t catch a break!”

He turned then, back the way he had been going before. “And I took away your mark, you absolute ponce. Don’t say thank you.”

He felt Draco’s shock then, heard him move to look at the arm he had been clutching and stare in utter shock at the bare unmarked skin there. He heard the footsteps then, braced for an impact.

And was utterly taken off guard when Malfoy spun him around to face him, before pushing him back into the wall, and meeting their lips in a crushing kiss.

Harrys brain short circuited for a moment, and when it came back online Malfoy was stood in front of him, fists clenched and biting his lip. Harry shook his head, looking up at Malfoy as he was so close, and still taller damn him. He touched his lip, felt the lingering warmth there.

The first warmth he had felt since before the war, the first real feeling was blooming inside his chest, just like when Malfoy’s plight had earlier pulled at his heart. It was now filling his chest with butterflies.

“Potter, just forget-“

“Again,” he interrupted. Malfoy looked at him as if he had gone crazy. “I was too shocked to do anything. Again. I want to remember my first kiss.”

Malfoy blinked, and Harry saw him mouth “first kiss” to himself before he stepped back up, sliding one hand around Harry’s waist and the other up his neck to rest on the side of his face, fingers brushing his ear as they settled around it. Then his lips descended and they were kissing. 

Mal- Draco, he was definitely Draco, was moving his lips over Harry’s, causing him to moan into it and Draco to deepen the kiss, letting his tongue lick into Harry’s mouth as he pushed him harder against the wall.

Snow started to fall outside, the wind blew along but it didn’t touch them, as Harry slowly lifted his hands and grasped the back of Draco’s cloak, pulling him forwards.

They parted, gasping for air and Harry looked over Draco’s shoulder as he leaned down. Hogwarts was mostly visible from here, the snow settling on the windows and swirling through the courtyards.  
“We would never have been able to do this, if it wasn’t for you Harry. You saved everything,” he breathed and Harry’s heart sped up even more. 

“Let’s go back home,” he whispered. “I’ll come to your room, its closer.”

Draco pulled back, his hand still lingering on Harry’s face. 

“I am never letting you go, you know that right?”

Harry leaned into the slim hand that lay on his face, sleeve pulled back and arm bare. He didn’t care about the mark, he didn’t care about what anyone else said. He nodded.

“Alright,” he agreed and let Draco lead him into the castle.


	2. A Silver Sickle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For day 23 of 25 Days of Draco and Harry. Last Chapter of this two part fluff about being at Hogwarts for Christmas. 2 More prompts to go....

Todays Prompt: Christmas Pudding 

 

“Where are we going? It’s Christmas Eve, I need to go find Harry.”

Draco pleaded with the house elves who were surrounding him, leading him along the dungeon corridors.

McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey had left them both at dinner that evening, with instructions to floo if needed. Both of them had agreed just to placate the women, they knew that if anything happened then they would deal with it themselves. But Harry had left during dinner, and Draco hadn’t seen him since. He had promised the Professor that he would find him but he had checked the tower, the Owlery, Hagrid’s and the Gryffindor common room and had come up with nothing. He had headed down to the dungeons, worry burning in chest when he had been accosted by the house elves and pushed and prodded along.

“Hush, not so louds Master Malfoy,” one of the elves said then and they turned him down another corridor he didn’t recognise.

He tried to stop walking and nearly fell over. “I need to find Harry, don’t you understand? Stop this at once.” 

The elves ignored him, in fact tipping his balance so he fell back and into their hands. They moved much faster this way and tittered among themselves as he started to shout. One of them clicked their fingers and he was mute.

It didn’t matter, Harry could be anywhere, oh why hadn’t he checked that walkway? He had been there last time, contemplating whether to just end everything. Draco’s heart sped up and he tried to get free of the elves but it seemed impossible, their strong fingers gripped him tightly.

He tried to shout, tried to summon his magic but just as he was getting a hold on it they stopped and he was righted, his feet hitting the stones again.  
“The kitchen?” he asked and the elves pushed him. he shook his head. “I don’t know how to get in?”

“Master must tickles the pear,” the same elf as before said. Draco looked at the painting, seeing only one pear he reached up and tickled it. It giggled, a high pitched noise that Draco could have done without and then swung open.

The room inside bustled with activity even though no one was here to feed. Elves moved across the floor and Draco held in a gasp as he found himself looking at a near replica of the Great Hall. The house tables lay in front of him and mountains of pots and pans stood to his left. The huge fireplace lit the kitchens so the corners were gloomy but the elves pushed him inside and closed the portrait. 

“Go, theres,” they whispered and he looked over to the right, past the tables and on the back wall was a figure much taller than the elves. 

“Harry,” he breathed and the knot in his chest loosened, his tension seeping away. He strode through the kitchen towards the boy and scooped him up in his arms before he could even turn around. “You idiot, I was so worried when I couldn’t find you.”

Harry looked down, his hair was almost white with powdered sugar, or flour but it smelt sweet. He turned Harry in his arms so that they were facing and he bent low to look into Harry’s eyes instead of making him look up.

The usually shining emerald were dull and swimming with unshed tears. Draco pulled him close, the ingredients that covered Harry getting onto his school robes. Harry gave a sniff as Draco dropped a kiss on his unruly hair and hushed him. He smiled when Harry raised his arms to hug back. “I’m sorry,” he said softly and buried his face into Draco’s chest.

Draco didn’t care, not about anything if Harry was safe. “I thought of you alone, wandering the corridors. I didn’t know you came here. I’m just glad I found you,” he said soothingly. “What are you doing here?” he changed the subject.

He watched Harry pull back, watched him gather himself up and shake his head. “Nothing…sometimes I like to bake things.”

“Harry, you can talk to me…it’s different now, you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

Draco hoped that worked, Harry usually wore his heart on his sleeve and Draco could read him like a book. Harry was upset and nervous, and he was trying to hide it. Harry gestured half-heartedly to the mess behind him where open packets of ingredients stood, knives and spoons littered the sides and bottles and mugs for measuring things were interspersed between them.

“I was going to make you a Christmas pudding.” He looked back at Draco then and took his hand, he led him to the counter. There was a bowl there with a cake looking mixture in it, and Draco could see peels and fruits in it. It smelt amazing however and so Draco took a huge sniff. Harry almost smiled. “But I got to this bit, and I…..”

Draco slipped his hand into Harry’s hair at the nape of his neck and slowly moved his fingers through it, massaging a little but just letting himself revel in the softness of that mess of fluff Harry called hair. It made him happy to know he could calm Harry down. 

Not that his heart wasn’t breaking for the wizard right now. He wanted to pull him back into an embrace and truly never let him leave. But he waited, Harry needed to get this off his chest.

The tears slipped down his cheeks and he sniffed as he carried on. “I realised I don’t have any fa-family left to share it with. It’s Tradition.”

He stopped, wiped his eyes and wrestled his expression back to something more neutral before taking a deep breath. Draco gently took his hands, as he saw Harry’s lip tremble.

“What Tradition is that?” he asked quietly, he was keeping his voice low, not for Harry’s sake, but because his throat was tight. Filled with empathy for the man in front of him, because even when crying Harry was a man. A strong, extremely powerful man. Draco’s heart was breaking at each tear that escaped, but Harry just kept wiping them away, his face slowly regaining its composure.

He held up a silver coin. “A sickle?” Draco queried with a raised brow. Chanting to himself in his head to act normal, to not break down too. He needed Harry to be alright. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t, now that he had found him, but he needed him to be alright.

Harry nodded and Draco watched as he handed it to an elf who cleaned it until it was sparkling and then Harry dropped it into the mixture. He smiled as he stuck in a spoon and gave it one stir.

“For Health, Happiness and Wealth,” he said softly to the bowl. Then he picked it up and handed it to Draco, spoon and all. Draco just looked at it, along with the house elves that had gathered around them. Harry took another breath and continued. “It’s Traditional for a coin to go into the pudding, and each family member stirs once. It brings good luck and wealth. But I changed it a bit, and I ask for more. Maybe it’s why it doesn’t happen for me. Too greedy.”

Draco stepped forward then, the mixture sloshed a little in the bowl and he growled as he couldn’t hold Harry. “You are not too greedy. You of all people deserve whatever you want to have Harry.”

“Stir it for me?” Harry asked hopefully and Draco melted inside. Harry just wanted a family to share his traditions with. The Weasleys would have their own Traditions, Draco had his if he was home with his family. Every year. But there was no one for Harry. Everyone he ever loved was dead, and his blood family wanted nothing to do with him if they could help it. Draco took the spoon and stirred.

“For good luck and wealth,” he intoned and then he got a bright idea. “Since there will only be us at Hogwarts for dinner tomorrow, why don’t we invite all the elves?”

Harry perked up and he turned to the kitchen. “Would you like to eat dinner with us tomorrow?” he asked and the elves all stared at him. They were kind of used to him by now, doing things other wizards did not do, but cautiously one of the elves stepped forwards and took the bowl from Draco. It stirred it once.

“Health and Happinesses,” it said softly and that was it, all the house elves came for a turn. And Harry was actually smiling. Now if only he could make him laugh.

“So it cooks in the pudding?” Draco prompted and Harry nodded. “Potter, if I break my teeth on that thing tomorrow…” he trailed off, putting on his most haughty expression and Harry burst out into laughter. It was contagious and Draco smiled. The house elves all perked up, more than usual and started to sing while they worked.

Harry got himself under control and smiled the soft smile at Draco, the one that made his stomach flip and his insides turn to mush. “If you get it, you win what you wished for ~Dray,” he used a pet name and Draco sucked in a breath. He didn’t know whether to correct him or kiss him. He stepped up and gave him a soft kiss. Harry’s smile made it worth it, lighting up his face. 

Draco wanted to keep that smile in a pensive, he wanted to see it every day on Harry’s face. He would make sure of it.

“Okay, just for you then.”

The bowl came back to Harry and he tipped it into a waiting oven tin before putting it down. An elf came to take it and Harry led Draco out of the kitchens and up to Gryffindor tower to sleep.

\--

Christmas morning dawned bright and crisp, the snow blowing lazy flurries around but Draco slit open one eye as Harry was bouncing on the bed. He could tell that, despite the obvious excitement coming from the bespectacled boy he was trying to be silent. Draco moaned and turned over, and Harry pounced.

“Presents,” he breathed before giving Draco a kiss on the cheek and pulling him into a sitting position.

There was the usual, the chocolates, the books, the Weasley jumper that Harry pulled on over his pyjamas and then stuffed his feet into his slippers. 

“Let’s stay in pyjamas today!” he laughed and brought all of Draco’s presents to him. The elves had obviously delivered them up here instead of the Dungeons and Draco was glad. He smiled and indulged Harry with a kiss as he opened his presents. Then he went to the bathroom to clean his teeth and sort his hair and then climbed back into bed. He took Harry’s hand and looked at him, watched the worry slowly sweep the soft features before he spoke.

“Harry, I know it’s only been a few days, but I’ve watched you, chased you and fought with you for five years. I just….will you be my boyfriend?” he finally choked out. He realised he had shut his eyes when he heard the grinning noise Harry made.

“Always and forever!” Harry beamed happily before knocking Draco back to the mattress like an excited crup puppy and laying on top of him. Draco wrapped him in his arms and they stayed like that for a little while, both dozing under the blanket and the piles of wrapping paper they now had.

Later, in the common room an Elf came to find them and take them to dinner. It was a grand affair, the house elves all sat at the tables in the Great Hall, chattering away to each other, passing crackers and telling the jokes, badly but Harry was laughing so Draco put up with it. He would put up with worse.

Finally, an elf that was at the Professors table stood up and banged a glass for silence. Everyone looked up as he picked up a pudding and then held it high. Harry’s eyes gleamed as he saw his creation there.

“Master Harry Potter sir made uses this cakey. Whoever gets the sickles will haves good luck for the year to comes. Good lucks all!” he squeaked and then somehow the cake was cut and placed on their plates. The pieces were small but rich and Draco watched as Harry carefully ate his piece. There was a short flash of disappointment as he didn’t find the sickle but Draco smirked at him as he popped his piece into his mouth. Harry smiled and mouthed ‘Good Luck’

“I don’t need luck I have- ow,” he stopped and put his hand to his mouth where he pulled out the small silver coin. Harry’s eyes were dancing in glee, and then the elves saw and a huge applause went up from them.

Draco couldn’t take his eyes off Harry, his head thrown back, eyes streaming with happy tears as he held his waist to keep the laughter in. The elves were happy and excited, the atmosphere was warm and bright and Draco was glad he hadn’t returned to the Manor.

He looked at the sickle, a quirk on his lips that would almost be a smile. He handed it to the Elf next to him. He didn’t need it. All his luck was right here.


End file.
